This Week's Meeting - 17 November 2014
On Monday, our 5 Minute Speaker was Rob Lutter, the new CEO of Heart Kids, which supports children with heart problems and their families, without any government financial assistance (Rob’s son is one of these children). In New Zealand, congenital heart defects is the leading cause of birth defects and is the leading cause for new born and infant deaths. Annually Starship Hospital carries out 450 open heart surgeries and the families of these children are the greatest users of the Ronald McDonald House. Due to the advances in medical intervention, these children are living longer, but are also more likely to have other associated health issues, so require continual medical assistance, as there is no cure for congenital heart disease. If you would like more information about this amazing organising please visit their website: www.heartnz.org.nz
Our guest speaker this week was Jeff Douglas, who is the Managing Director of Douglas Pharmaceuticals; having begun working there is 1979. Douglas Pharmaceuticals started life in 1967 thanks to Jeff’s father Graeme and is now a leading drugs company, specialising in hard-to-make products and is the world leader in the production of medication for bad acne. Due to the small size of the NZ market, Douglas Pharmaceuticals went offshore and now has two manufacturing facilities in Auckland and Fiji, with the Fijian plant specialising in nutritional products. Douglas Pharmaceuticals is also involved in the development of auto blister packaging machinery, so chemists no longer have to sort out a patient’s daily dosages manually. Douglas Pharmaceuticals currently supplies to mainly western countries and continues to evolve as the markets dictate.
Sergeant John Duder provided a number of different taxes this week, including an alarm clock tax, an aging tax, a driving tax and a young tax, to ensure a boost to our Sunshine Fund.